HOT TOYS ROGUE ONE K-2SO REVIEW

I really didn’t want to do this review, but Cassian made me do it. Ok, that joke has been done about 148,873 times since the release of Rogue One, but I had nothing better, so there it is. K2-SO is one of those characters that I really wish we could get more of, but unfortunately, unless they do a prequel to Rogue One, we will never see him again. So since we can’t get him in the movies, let’s go ahead and take a look at the Hot Toys offering of this amazing character.

1/6 scale figure

One (1) blaster

One (1) grenade

One (1) figure stand

How many hand options? None! How many different head options? None! What about weapon accessories? Not much to speak of! It may seem like I’m picking on the accessories here, and in a way I am, but I honestly can’t blame Hot Toys for this. K2 does not have many accessories in the movies, and unless they totally just made stuff up, there is not a lot that you can give him. So, while he does not come with a lot of extra stuff, I think they make up for it in other ways which we will get to later in this review.

What he does come with however, is done very well. The sculpts are insanely detailed, and the paint apps are even better. We have come to expect this with Hot Toys, but it’s still good to see each and every time I look at them. The grenade even has this small articulation detail where it can be closed, but then open to reveal the red inside that looks like it’s ready to be detonated. Not a lot here, but what is here looks great!

It’s Hot Toy, it’s a mechanical being, so we know the sculpting and detailing on this figure are going to be completely top-notch. When I say top-notch, I mean, holy shit, look at all this amazing stuff!!!!

While K2 may seem like a pretty blah figure when it comes to details, as he seems to be all limbs, there is actually an insane amount of stuff going on. Looking at his head all you seem to notice is all the small electrical parts all over. In every nook and cranny on this figure, there is so much going on. If he was completely covered, with no exposed parts, he would be a completely boring figure, but because he is not, we are treated to detail that would make a nun scream with pleasure!!

The attention to detail here is what makes a Hot Toy a Hot Toy. Every wire, every bolt, every line is so super crisp, you won’t believe that this is not an actual working robot. There are not things just thrown in here just to fill a space, but everything looks exactly in place, and it looks like it is purely needed to make this robot function. Yes, there are large areas on the figure that are completely bare and smooth, but you can’t fault Hot Toys for this, as it is the design of the character, but the areas that do have detail, man did they nail it!

10/10

Let’s be honest, K2 does not have a whole lot of color. He is basically done in an all black metal color, with just a splash of yellow around his shoulder. So, what does Hot Toys do about this? They create an incredibly detailed, life-like weathering job that has just enough detail to make up for the lack of color.

There are little bits of silver in some of the mechanical parts, and he does have little dots of color to represent lights and other do-dads throughout the body. There is also little detail on his back that have these white lines that are painted perfectly, and now that I think about it, there is not a single paint miss anywhere on this figure. The part that just absolutely blows me away is the weathering job they did. There are scruffs and scratches all over that look natural, and look like they are supposed to be there. I have seen other paint jobs that try to weather the figure, but it often looks like they put scratches in places that don’t seem natural, but every scratch, every paint chip is in a perfect location.

Besides for the beautiful paint that is on this figure, there is also one light up feature in his head. These lights make his eyes give off that light source that we are so used to seeing in the droids in Star Wars. I will say that the batteries are a little bit of a pain in the ass to put in, but once they are in, and the lights in the room are dimmed just a little, they look fantastic. Sometimes it is difficult to see them, but I do like this added touch to help offset the lack of accessories.

10/10

Articulation is one of those things that I have to admit I don’t really like on Hot Toys all that much. With the cloth all over most of them, it limits articulation in a way that I don’t really like. But guess what, K2 has zero cloth, so there is nothing to worry about here!

While this is a droid, and there will be limitations based off of the character design, I have to say I love the amount of articulation this guy has. But, I also have to say that I think this is the weakest part of this figure. His head does have a double joint in the head and neck, and you do get a good range of motion. Unfortunately due to the limits of the character design, he cannot look up that much. There is a ball in the shoulder that allows for pretty good range of motion, and the shoulder pad is hinged separately so it moves out of the way when you pose the arms around.

He has jointed elbows that can move pretty well, but unfortunately on mine, his left elbow is not as tight as the right so it flops around a little bit. One of the coolest parts I love about the articulation is that all of his fingers are hinged, and allow for an incredible amount of posing options. While he does not have any extra hands, it doesn’t really matter since his fingers are articulated to put in any pose you can think of.

There is a single ball joint in the abdomen that allows for a little bit of motion followed by hip joints that can move the legs around quite a bit. Due to the limitations of the character design, his legs cannot kick straight forward, but they do swing up quite a bit. There is rotation right above the knee, and the knee is a ratchet type of joint that allows for great motion while keeping the figure solid.

The ankles also have a ratchet type of hinge, but where the detents are located, do not do a great job of standing him up. K2 is extremely top heavy, and it seems like the feet are either rotated too far forward, or too far back. With the design of the character, this has to be perfect, and it just seems that they didn’t nail it on this one. Trying to get him to stand up without the stand can be quite tricky, and I found myself cursing more that I should have just getting him to stand up straight. He also has a toe joint which helps, but I would highly recommend using the figure stand that comes with the figure if you have him standing on your shelf.

Overall, the articulation is really good, but with the loose left arm, and the horrible ankle joints, it really makes posing him quite difficult at times. While the fingers are also articulated and look great, it can be a pain to get him to hold his weapon with a solid grip, and trying to get him to hold that grenade, can be an exercise in futility at times.

7/10

Right now, K2 is going for about $230 as an average price. While that is a pretty big number for a toy, the incredible amount of detail, and just pure size, more than make up for it. Most Hot Toys are above the $200 range, so this is what we have come to expect. I do think the cost for this particular figure is a little high, I don’t think its completely out of range. My reason for thinking it’s a little high is due to lack of accessories, and some of the joints (on mine) are not perfect, that brings it’s value down just a bit.

9/10

This is a beautiful figure, without a doubt, but I don’t think it’s perfect. The lights are great, the paint and sculpt are amazing, but I feel there are some weak points, especially with the lack of accessories and some of the joints.

I’m not a huge fan of collecting Hot Toys for a couple of reasons (size and articulation), but this is definitely a figure I am glad I was able to get my hands on. He looks great, feels like a ton of bricks in your hands (that is a good thing!), and has this amazing presence on your shelf. If you can pick him up, I say go for it!

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